Hi, good work on the last pieces! I like the muscular guy muscle definition. I’m no expert on anatomy at all, but on the female model, there are some small issues to be addressed to make the model look cooler. From the side view, on the back of the neck, it seems that the transition to the torso is too rough, it needs to be smoother. Also, from the front, the sternocleido muscles are too wide where they meet the clavicle. Don’t exaggerate forms when doing females, do smooth strokes, for example on the knees, the elbow. Ok, here’s a tip for exercising(I think I already said this in a previous reply but I’ll just say it again). Don’t start with base meshes. Zbrush has evolved so much that you don’t need that anymore. Try doing the models from a sphere or zspheres whichever you feel comfortable with. That way you will have diversity in your silhouettes. And don’t forget about references; always have them in front. About the likeness… Likeness is not hard, but it needs a lot of practice. When doing likeness you need to have good understanding of human head and face. Try to do the face from planes or starting from a skull, this is the academic way I think. I did not learn to do heads like that, but I found out later from Ryan Kingslien’s tutorials. You need to, first, do a believable head, any head. You need to feel at home when you do a head. And for likeness, some people are more expressive, they have certain features that stand forth; this likeness is achieved more easily. And of course, are those people, that are more generic; you need to observe subtleties. This kind of likeness is more tricky to achieve, but it’s not hard, you need to just be patient and have a clean head and eyes. And you need references, front, side, 3/4 view, preferably in the same lit environment with the same appearance. Some persons look different with beard for example, a different hair style. And of course, there are the beautiful women. This kind of likeness is the trickiest to achieve only from sculpture. A good texture, with the makeup, helps a good sculpture. When doing females, put some kind of form for the hair, after you sketched the big forms. Like I said with silhouettes, practice doing heads from a sphere. I think you already have a good understanding of anatomy, you just need more practice and very important, patience. Try to take a break from that, and do some heads for a start. Here are some good references for starting sculpting a head:
http://philippefaraut.com/store/reference-casts/planes-of-the-face.html
http://www.rahulphilip.com/wordpress/?p=1612
http://artofpros.deviantart.com/art/Face-planes-reference-173177639
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VuOy4bBx0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSOX5pLchyk&NR=1&feature=endscreen
There are tons of material on the web about head sculpting, these are just an idea.
I hope this helps you on your path of becoming a better artist.
Good luck, you’re on the right track, keep practicing!
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All the best!
